In Too Deep

Piper Harland, of the Police National Dive Squad, lives in Wellington, New Zealand.  She is from Stewart Island, but has not been home in nine years—ever since her father died at sea a few days after her heart was broken by her first love, West.  After a body recovery dive dredges up some buried heartache, Piper faces inner conflicts at work, and takes some time off. She returns home to help her brother, Ben, who runs a charter dive operation (including shark cage dives), but is unable to work with a broken ankle.  “West” Westlake manages Due South, a restaurant/bar and community hub. He is also helping Ben while he recovers.  Piper and West are forced to work together to handle the charter dives and kitchen tasks at the pub, and West provides her with a place to stay.  

There is a lot of tension in this recording.  Each protagonist is battling unseen ‘demons’ that are affecting their current life.  These conflicts are revealed throughout the story, and are probed sufficiently.  Piper and West both have to come to terms with their pasts, with horrible things that were said at the time of their breakup, and with the losses they have experienced since then.  There are elements of forgiveness as well as deeper understanding that maturity brings to their current reality.  There is depth and heart in this story!

The narrator does a great job of keeping the reader on track with the various characters and voices.  There are no noticeable distinctions between the voices of the male and female characters; however, she keeps the characters distinct enough via the verbal descriptions.  Her accent sounds authentic, and the production quality is good. There were no noticeable background noises or mouth sounds to mar the quality of this recording.

Carey Sullivan